


An Important Thing To Remember

by j_gabrielle



Category: Penny Dreadful (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Insecurity, Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-23
Updated: 2014-06-23
Packaged: 2018-02-05 22:44:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1834930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ethan gets drunk and says something that he shouldn't, and Victor has an insecurity streak a mile-wide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Important Thing To Remember

Victor rolls his eyes at Ethan, sighing exaggeratedly as they watch the girls run their practice laps. The late September wind nips at their skin, the sun hides behind the lazy grey clouds. They sit in the stands, their hoodies drawn tight.

Ethan's dark hair peeks out from under his hood, his dark eyes intent in their gaze over the field. The bleakness of the day only serves to highlight the melancholic beauty of his face. Victor tosses his apple from  one hand to the other, snatching glances over at his friend. They've been doing this a lot lately; coming out here whenever the girls are working on their times.

"You should go talk to her." He says nonchalantly as he bites into his apple. "I think it will be better if you did."

Ethan throws a look his way before leaning forward on his folded arms, braced against the railing. Brona sprints past them, her figure a streak of blur. The longing that seems to ooze from him is choking and palpable in the air.

Victor swallows, leaning back to reach for his discarded bag. "You're fucking pathetic Chandler. Go talk to her." He kicks at Ethan's shin, turning to leave before he can retaliate.

"Shut up, asshole." Ethan grumbles, getting to his feet and falling into step next to him. Knocking their shoulders together, he steers them towards the school gates. "C'mon. I'll buy you an ice-cream or something."

* * *

 

Victor opens the door to his flat, half-dragging Ethan past the threshold. The 'ice-cream' had quickly descended to crashing Dorian's party, liberating his father's liquor cabinet of half of its' contents, probably destroying some of the furniture whilst they were trying to leave.

"That's it. Come on, Ethan."

Really, he should have known better. Victor admonishes himself quietly, kicking the door to his room open. Tossing the drunk idiot on top of the covers, he wrinkles his nose, stretching a little before shrugging out of his hoodie and his jeans.

"Idiot." Victor mutters softly, brushing away a dark lock of hair fondly from Ethan's stupid face before he catches himself. The flames of embarrassment burn on his cheeks as he pulls away to untie Ethan's shoe laces. "Stupid fucker." He slaps Ethan's face gently.

"Brona..." He hears in the silence of the room. His hands pause in the act of pulling his socks off. "Brona." Hands reach out, taking hold of his wrists. The pain of his heart breaking pounds hard through him.

The shafts of street light slipping in through the spaces between the blinds illuminate Ethan's form on the bed. Victor whimpers in pain, twisting his hands to extricate himself. "Let me go, Ethan!" He hisses, grimacing. 

"Ethan!" He cries, breath leaving his lungs in a rush when he is pulled on top of Ethan, held tight in his arms. 

Victor bites down on his bottom lip, heart beat rocketing like a thousand bird's wings against its' skeletal cage. The pain that flares in his chest sings through his blood, the unjustice of his situation blooms bright in his conciousness. 

"Please let me go, Ethan." He whispers against Ethan's breast bone, held fast by the strong arms surrounding him. _I'm not her I know I am not her I am sorry I am not her I wish I was her so that I would be the one you loved_ , he wishes he could say.

His only answer was Ethan shifting on the bed to pin him against the mattress, covering his slighter form with his burlier one. Closing his eyes, Victor resigns himself to a bitter, sleepless wait for daylight.

* * *

 

"You're avoiding me." 

Victor startles, barely keeping his books steady as he does his best to level his fiercest glare while fighting down his urge to blush at being caught. It'd only been a couple of days. He didn't think the idiot would miss his presence that soon.

"No, I'm not." He argues heatedly. " Go away Chandler. You're making me late for class."  Victor shuffles past him, head down and trying to slip back into the crowd. The hand that grabs his shoulder and pulls him bodily into the nearest empty classroom, steals his quick words.

"What the-"

Ethan takes the books from him, slamming them on the teacher's table. Slowly, he advances on Victor, stalking forward as he traps him with his arms braced on the sides of his face and his back pressed against the board. "You have been avoiding me, Victor. And I want to know why." Falling quiet as the bell in the hallway begins to ring, Ethan leans closer. "What happened that night at Dorian's? Answer me that, Victor."

"You were drunk." Is all Victor says, hoping fervently that it will placate any curious bones left in Ethan.

Shaking his head, Ethan closes in, pressing closer. "That's not it. You could have left me at Dorian's. You hate dragging my drunk ass home." Softly, cautiously, "Did I hurt you?"

A curious mix of exhaustion and fear settle in his gut, causing him to push back against the towering form looming over him. Hands on Ethan's shoulders, he pushes, eyes wide with desperation and panic. Ethan jolts in surprise when Victor accidentally punches his jaw, staggering back and away.

"You thought I was Brona! You thought I was your ex-girlfriend!" Victor spits, the words tripping off his tongue draped in anger and pain. "You thought I was the girl you told me you were over! You said... You promised that you were over her when you told me you love me." 

"Victor, I-"

"Fuck you, Ethan Chandler." Victor growls shakily. "Fuck. You." He pushes at him, making a dash for his books and running out the door.

* * *

The unrestrained gossip of Brona and Ethan getting back together spread like wild fire through the school by the day's end. Victor tries not to feel the strangle hold grip in his chest. 

Ethan is unsurprisingly absent from the class. Victor imagines that the idiot is probably on the roof, smoking his cigarette as the drizzle begins to pick up. Rubbing the heel of his palm against his eye, he sighs just as the teacher calls for a dismissal. 

"Victor? Can I talk to you?" Brona asks from behind him. Victor turns slightly, nodding before he can think better of it.

They wait until the rest of their classmates filter out. "Ethan told me." She says, her accent twisting the words.

"Good for you." He seethes, shoving his books into his bag a little more viciously than they deserve.

Brona shakes her head, curly hair bouncing. "I don't think you get it." She frowns, looking at him as if he was deliberately missing the point.

"What's there to get, Brona?" Victor laughs hollowly. "Ethan still loves you! You guys have another shot at happy-ever-after! So, congratulations and if you don't mind, I want to go home and lick my wounds in private."

Brona rolls her eyes. "When he told me you were a stubborn fool, he really wasn't joking wasn't he? You're the blindest, most thick headed arse I have ever met! Don't you see it?" She takes his hands in hers. "Look, Ethan says my name when he's drunk not because he isn't over me. He says it because he is guilty."

Victor furrows his brows at her. "If this is a speech where you tell me he loves me really and that you and he aren't anything, any more and that I shouldn't have anything to worry about, I have to say. You're doing a really crappy job at it."

"Will you just listen!" Brona cries, half in exasperation and half in reluctant amusement. "Yes, he and I were a thing from before. But that was before! I don't think I ever had a chance any ways. Not with you around."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"It means, you clodpole, that from the moment he saw you, I'd already lost him." Brona smiles sadly. "I never stood a chance to you and your crazy eyes."

Victor could only gape at her. She looks away from him, grinning. Pecking him swiftly on his cheek, she winks, scurrying away.

"To be fair, I only called your eyes crazy because of that time with the labs."

Victor balls his hands into fists, pressing them into the flesh of his thigh. "I remember."

"Then," Ethan's voice comes closer. "Do you remember that time when we went to the beach?"

"Yeah."

A hand rests on his shoulder, turning him around. "You remember what I said then?"

"You said that some times guilt is all you know how to feel." Victor recites softly.

Ethan nods, tilting Victor by the chin to look into his eyes. "I will always care about Brona. And I will always regret the way I ended it. I feel so much guilt and regret when it comes to her. But I will never, ever regret or stop loving you, Victor Frankenstein." He smiles, the corners of his eyes crinkling in love.

"You can't promise me that." He says, the words chokeful of emotion. "You can't keep that promise."

"I can." Ethan leans down, brushing their lips in a barely there caress. "And I will."

Victor brings his hands to wrap around his neck, closing his eyes and the rest of the distance between them. "I'm keeping you to that."

 

[end.]

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I needed me some happiness. These two idiots give me happiness. 
> 
> Come spazz at me on tumblr! 
> 
> http://randomingoftherandomness.tumblr.com/ask


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